GM45: Rapid (Rock Bottom) Reacts

Thaddeus Young, PF37 MIN | 9-15 FG | 2-3 FT | 2 REB | 3 AST | 3 STL | 0 BLK | 4 TO | 21 PTS | -10A solid offensive night for Thad. Thad’s steal and AND 1 in the 4th Q was smooth. However the ill advised 3PA he missed with 3+ remaining in the game and the Sixers down 10, was a killer. I also have to ask…How does a 6-foot-8 small forward who is athletic, fast and has a high basketball IQ, only grab 2 boards in 37 minutes of play?

Evan Turner, SF34 MIN | 7-12 FG | 6-6 FT | 6 REB | 3 AST | 3 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 21 PTS | -7A nice scoring 1st half — 13 points on 4-8 shooting — helped Turner stuff the stat sheet. Still, his defensive lapse on the Suns 1st possesion of the game set the stage for an epic collapse by the Sixers at that end of the floor. Also when he got T’d up in the 3rd Q after MCW’s AND1 play had cut into the Suns lead, I threw my remote.

Spencer Hawes, C34 MIN | 6-12 FG | 4-4 FT | 9 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 4 TO | 18 PTS | -9A near double-double on 50% shooting from the field and from three along with 100% shooting from the FT line out of your center should be enough to help you win a game. It wasn’t…You know why? Because Spence was MIA last night on the defensive end. How funny was it to watch #00 back pedal hard as he could as the Suns FB blew by him like an orange practice cone?

Michael Carter-Williams, PG39 MIN | 7-19 FG | 7-7 FT | 2 REB | 11 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 3 TO | 22 PTS | -11I’ll start with the positive…I liked that MCW made a concentrated effort to get to the rim last night. He seemed determined to score by going past and over Dragic. The result was 7 FTAs and he knocked them all home. However his shot is still off and Dragic simply killed him at the other end of the floor.

Tony Wroten, SG11 MIN | 1-6 FG | 4-4 FT | 2 REB | 1 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 6 PTS | +2TWroe was 1-6 in the 1st half and that’s all I have to say about his play last night. In his last 10 games Wroten is putting up 7.9 ppg. on 32% shooting. In his last 2 games since returning from an ankle injury, he has been good for 7.5 per on 28.5% shooting. If someone offers Hinkie a 2nd round pick for Wroten, I would take it.

Brett Brown
The defense is somehow getting worse. Lavoy Allen has no right playing in an up-tempo game like last night’s contest. I would have given Dedmon his minutes. The putrid start and the fact that the first-five did not respond to his passionate timeout 25 ticks into the game tells me Brown has lost this team.

Six Things We Saw Last Night…

In the game preview post I asked for the Sixers to come out with a lot of energy, get off to a quick start and establish a lead against a Suns team that played an emotional and tiring game in Cleveland on Sunday. Just the opposite happened…

After Suns forward P.J. Tucker blew by an uninterested Evan Turner for a layup in the opening possession of the game, coach Brown was forced to called a timeout 25 seconds into the contest. Brown was clearly upset with his first-five during that TO. Whatever he said, the team did not listen. The PHX onslaught continued as Hornacek & Co. opened the game with an 8-2 burst and all buckets were scored on dunks or lay-ups. Phoenix shot 10 of 11 from the field and led 29-9 five minutes into the game. The Suns went on to drop 40 first-quarter points on 77% shooting from the field.

The Sixers staged 15-6 run in the 2nd Q. After a drawn up lob play to Thad and 2 FTs by Turner, the Sixers trailed 50-45. The Suns responded with a 12-3 run; pushed the lead back out to 14 and this game was pretty much over. FYI…the Sixers never led in this game.

I rarely comment on what the announcers have to say during a 76ers broadcast, but Malik Rose was killing me last night. First let me say that I really enjoy Malik’s work and that he has become one of the better analysts in the Association. Last night everytime the Sixers needed to make a big play on the defensive end, Rose would practically beg the Sixers “to get a stop”. Malik’s pleading made me laugh (and a little sad) because all of us (including Malik) know the Sixers have one of the worst defenses in NBA history and can NEVER get a stop when they need one.

The Sixers defense was Swiss cheese pathetic last night as the Suns scored a great deal of their points on lay-ups; alley oops and fast break dunks. The Suns’ 124 points matched their season-high. The Sixers looked so slow, unathletic and uninterested that Gerald Green (13.9 ppg.) looked like an all-star last night. Green put on a show at the WFC as he drained four 3-pointers, blocked three shots and made 10-of-12 field goals for 30 points. He scored 8 straight 4th Q points, including a sick slam that sent the few faithful at the WFC to the exits.

The Suns blocked a season high 12 shots last night. Philly’s own Markieff Morris had a season-high 4 blocks at the half (1 block in his previous 10 games combined). The Suns had 8 blocks at half. Ish Smith (6-foot tall) had two huge blocks — one on MCW and the other on Thad.